We were awoken in the middle of the night by a passing thunderstorm. It was an intense storm but only lasted probably 15 minutes. Happy to say both tents held up to the storm and nobody was hit by any falling trees.

Something amazing happened when I got up on this morning. I went and got our foodbag, started to boil water with fuel and a stove on top of the fire grate to make coffee like I always do first thing in the morning. When the water was almost at a boil I saw it. A huge snapping turtle was laying in our fire grate! I could not believe it. I started taking pictures and videos of it when I realized it was laying eggs! During the night it decided to dig a hole in our fire grate and lay eggs. We think she chose that spot because it was warm from the night before. She eventually returned to the lake, and we dug up the eggs and re-buried them in the forest. We had no idea if the eggs would survive that, but we figured better than being buried where campers are sure to make fires in the next couple days.

The rest of the day was much of the same as the day before. Fishing for smallmouth and eating what we caught, relaxing at camp and in the hammock. Great last full day in the boundary waters.

~Oyster Lake